La Cadena Investments

Chief Executive Jack H. Brown said the company's two principal stockholder groups, which own 92.2% of the supermarket chain, want to buy the remaining stock and take the company private. If the deal is approved, he said, the two stockholder groups--La Cadena Investments and Craig Corp.--would each own 50% of the Colton-based company. A three-member committee of directors will meet to determine what a fair price would be for the remaining stock.

Ringing up the final tally in the often bitter fight for control of the Stater Bros. supermarket chain, an investor group led by former Stater Chairman Bernard R. Garrett has agreed to sell its stake in the Colton company to Craig Corp., one of its former opponents, it was announced Monday. Craig Corp. of Compton said it has agreed to buy the Garrett group's 1.75 million shares, or about 41% of Stater, for $20.15 million.

Stater Bros., the Colton-based grocery company that is embroiled in a legal battle with its ousted chief executive, on Monday named Joe S. Burkle to the posts of executive vice president of the company and vice chairman and chief operating officer of its wholly owned subsidiary, Stater Bros. Markets. The company also announced the resignations of Richard C. Moseley and H. Harrison Lightfoot, two vice presidents who are members of an investment group seeking control of the company.

The top management at the Stater Bros. supermarket chain said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire the 50% stake in the chain that it does not already own for $104 million. The management team, led by Stater Bros. Chairman Jack Brown, said it plans to acquire the stake held by Los Angeles-based Craig Corp. "At this time, Craig Corp. has decided that it wishes to begin reinvesting in other projects and Stater Bros. is willing and able to accommodate them," Brown said.

A Delaware court ruled Friday in favor of Stater Bros.' former president, Jack H. Brown, clearing the way for him to regain control of the Colton-based supermarket company from executives who had ousted him in February and engaged him in a four-month power struggle. In a 28-page opinion, Vice Chancellor Carolyn Berger of the Delaware Chancery Court directed "the prompt and orderly transfer of control" from Chairman Bernard R. Garrett to Brown. Stater Bros. offered a subdued response late Friday.

The fight for control of the Stater Bros. grocery chain grew even murkier Tuesday as the children of company Chairman Bernard Garrett said they are hiking their stake in Stater to more than 75% of the outstanding shares by exercising an option to buy most of their opponents' holdings. But suspended President Jack H. Brown, who heads the opposition, called the Garrett family's claim "bizarre" and "ridiculous," adding that his investor group still owns its more than 1.7 million shares.

Jack H. Brown, the suspended president of Stater Bros., filed suit Thursday in San Bernardino County Superior Court in an effort to prevent the supermarket company from postponing its annual meeting. Refusing to issue an immediate order, Judge Ben Kayashima instead set a hearing for next Tuesday at which Stater must say why it should not proceed with the meeting on March 20, as originally planned. The suit marks a further escalation of the battle between Brown and Chairman Bernard R.

A group that includes the recently suspended chief executive of the Stater Bros. grocery chain said Tuesday that it has begun a proxy fight in an effort to defeat management's slate of directors at the March 20 annual meeting. The Colton-based firm itself announced separately Tuesday that it has withdrawn its unaudited first fiscal quarter figures, which it reported Feb. 6. Tuesday's announcement said an initial review by outside auditors indicated that the income figure had been understated.